Ulla von Brandenburg: Shadows under water

May 14 - July 13, 2025

Overview

Barakat Contemporary presents Shadows under water (May 14th - July 13th), the first-ever solo exhibition of works by German artist Ulla von Brandenburg to come to Korea. Von Brandenburg studied stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe and fine art at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg. Now based in Paris, her active ongoing practice employs the approaches and methodologies of theater, stage, and performance art to address various cultural and social issues that have emerged at different historical moments, exploring ways in which specific narratives, rituals, and symbols of the past have come to shape contemporary society. Drawing inspiration from classical literature, expressionist theater, and pre-Freudian psychoanalysis, von Brandenburg works with recurring themes and imagery across a wide range of media that spans performance, theater, video, two-dimensional works, painting, fabric, installation, sculpture, and stage design.

Shadows under water consists of works by the artist that directly explore the show's central themes—water and shadow—with great depth. Evoking the relationship between the fluid, transparent nature of water and the shadows cast beneath its surface, the exhibition title itself asks: how do we ourselves reflect upon reality and ultimately produce images that may be distorted? Here, water functions not just as a straightforwardly material entity but through its metaphorical properties, serving as a key medium that symbolizes transformation and transmutation, as well as psychological depth. In setting out to explore this hidden realm of the unconscious, tracing this boundary between the watery depths and the real world, Von Brandenburg prompts the viewer to embark upon an inward exploration of their own, embracing yet another mysterious world hidden under the surface.